The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-05-10
STATE BALLOT.
Governor

write in it the name OF any person for
whom he desires to vote whose name is
not printed OH the ballot. ANY state,
county or city clerk falling to perform his
duties aB prescribed shall be punished by
fine not less than 500 nor more than
$1,000, or imprisonment not less than
thirty days nor more than two years, or
by both such fne and imprisonment,
Elections are to BIO held in districts each
containing not more than 800 voters. At
each polling place there shall be provided
boxes for voting, IS many in number as
the kinds OF ballots voted, one box paint.
ed white, one red and one blue. In The
room in which the board OF election eits,
or Immediately adjoining it, there shall
be a number OF compartments 60 con-
structed that voter eau retire into them
and be free from observation. When a
voter presents himself, an inspector of
election, after ascertaining that he is en-.
titled to vote, shall tear from the blocks
ballot OF each kind that is to be voted,
and placing his (tbe inspector's) initials
upon the back of each, shall hand them 10
the voter. The latter shall then retire to
compartment and there Indicate BY d
croes in the margin the candidate for each
Office for whom he wiahes to vote. He
aha!l then fold the ballots 80 that their
faces ahsll be concealed, but go that the
initials OF the inspector may be- seen upon
the backs, and then he nha!l otter them to
the inspectors, who will put them in the
proper boxes. No persons shall be allow
ed to remain in the voting room except
the oihcera Of election and policemen, and
the number Of voters admitted at one
time shall in no case exceed the number
Of compartments by more than two. The
inspectors may limit the time during
which voter may remain while prepar-
ing end depoaiting his ballots, but such
limitations shall not be less than five nor
more than fifteen minutes.
II an elector inadvertently spoils bal
lot, he may rsturnit and obtain another,
but the inspector must preserve the spoil.
ed one and return it to the proper clerk,
together with all unused ballots, no more
Of which muat be torn from the block
than are required in the voting. No bal
lot can be deposited without the inspec-
tors initials. No ballots can be distrib-
uted except in the voting room, and any
peraon removing any OF the ballots from
theroom shall be guilty Of a misdemeanor,
and subject to fine or imprisonment or
both. When voter makes osth that he
cannot read, or for any reason csnno.
mark his ballot, one inspector, in presence
OF all the others, shall mark 1t as no des.
ligpates, and any inspector who 1iscloses
how such on elector has voted shall
De guilty OF q misdemeanor and subject
10 the penalty therefor It is made un-
law ul for any election officer or any per-
son in the voting room or compartments
to persuade or endeavor to persuade any
person TO vote or my particular candi.
date, and the penalty is fine not exceed.
ing $500 or imprisonment not exceeding
sixty days. -
The different coloring for the ballots
strikes US as entirely unnecessary, though
there Is no objection to it. Tho divisions
into State, county and city could be made
iust az effectively by having the titles to
that effect printed upon tho backa where
the Inspectors initials are put. The
printing Of his politics after each caudi:
dato's name ia defect which ought not
to DO allowed to remain in the law. It is
allowed in many States, but in New York
it is expressly forbidden 10 indicate in any
way upon the ticket the political party TO
which the candidates upon it belong. II
we are to have perfectly free and I'M.
trammelel ballot, the voter, when no goes
into the seclpson OF the compartment to
maIk his ballot, ought 10 have no political
designation to guide him. He ought to
he Tree to choose his candidates upon their
merits. The only proper guide to put on
for him to follow would be- the informa.
ton required to be put on the ballots by
the English laws, namely, the address and
occupation Of each candidate. &.4l3 i!
In general this Michigan propoBsl Is On
admirable one, and Is distinct design Of
progress. Like the Wisconsin law, which
ia to 90 into force on June ! Of this year
it provides for the abolition OF some oI
the most pernicious and corruptine in.
luence about the polls. 1t takes the dis,
trhution Of ballots out OF the hands Of
political "heelera'' and "strikers;"i It maket
itimpossible for those agents Of corruption
and intimidation to get near the polls, and
lit removes the polling places themaelye.